MEASUREMENT AND SCALING

INTRODUCTION :
As we discussed earlier ,the data consists of quantitative variables, like price
, income, sales etc. And qualitative variables like knowledge , performance,
character etc. The qualitative information must be converted into numerical
form for further analysis. This is possible through measurement and scaling
techniques’ .a common feature of survay based research is to have
respondents feelings , attitudes, opinions ,etc . In some measurable form.
MEASUREMENT AND SCALING:
Before we proceed further it will be worth while to understand the following
two terms.
 Measurements
 Scaling
MEASUREMENTS :
Measurements is the process of observing and recording the observations that
are collected as a part of research . The recording of the observations may be
in terms of numbers or other symboles to characteristics of objects according
to certain prescribed rules.the respondents characteristics of feelings ,
attitudes, opinions etc. The most important aspect of the measurements is the
specification of rules for assigning numbers to characteristics. The rules for
assigning numbers should be standardized and applied uniformly . This must
not change over time or objects.
SCALING:
Scaling is the assignment of objects to numbers or semantics according to a
rule . In scaling the objectives ate text statements , usually statements of
attitudes, opinions, or feeling.
ISSUES OF ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT:
When a researcher is interested in measuring the attitudes , feelings, or
opinions of respondents he / she should be clear about the following.
 What is to be measured.
 Who is to be measured.
  The choices available in data collection techniques’
NOMINAL SCALE:
Nominal scale is the crudest among all measurements scale but it is also the
simplest scale . In this scale the different scores on a measurement simply
indicate different categories the nominal scale is often referred as a categorical
scale. The assigned numbers have no arithmetic properties and act only as
labels. The only stastical operation that can be preformed on nominal scale is
a frequently count. We cannot determine an average except mode.
EXAMPLE:
Labeling men as 1 and women as 2 which is the most common way of
labeling gender for data recording purpose does not means women’s are twice
something or other than men . Nor it suggests that men are some how better
than women.
ORDINAL SCALING:
ORDINAL scale involves the ranking of items along the continum of the
characteristics being scaled. In this scale , the items are classified according
to whether they have more or less of a characteristic.
The main charastic of the ordinal scale is that the categories have a logical or
ordered relationship. This type is scale permits the measurement of degrees
of differences ( i.e, more or less ) this scale is very common . In marketing ,
satisfaction and attitudinal research using ordinal scale data, we can perform
stastical analysis like median and mode. ,but not than mean.
EXAMPLE:
A fast food home delivery shop may wish to ask it’s customers.
How would you rate the service of our staff?
1. Excellent,2.verygoog ,3. Good ,4.poor ,5.worst.
INTERVAL SCALE:
Interval scale is which the numbers are used to rank attributes such that
numerically equal distance on the scale represent equal distance in the
characteristic being measured.
An interval scale contains all the information of the ordial scale , but it also
one allows to compare the differences /distance between attributes.
EXAMPLE:
For example the difference between 1 and 2 is equal to differnce between
3and 4 is twice to differnce between 1 and 2.
Temperature is an example for interval scale . But we cannot say 40degree
centigrade is twice as hot as 20c.

COMPARITIVE SCALES:

.In comparative scaling, the respondent is asked to compare one object with
another. Thee comparative scales can further be divided into the following
four types of scaling techniques.
 Paired comparison scale
 Rank order scale,
 Constant sum scale, and
 Q- sort scale.
NON COMPARITIVE SCALES:
IN non comparative scaling respondents need only evaluate a single object .
Their evaluation is independent of the other object which the researcher is
studying.
The non comparative scaling techniques can be further divided into
 Continuous rating scale, and
 Itemized rating scale.
SELECTION OF AN APPROPRIATE SCALEING TECHINIQUE:
A number of issues decide to choice of scaling technique. Some significant
issues are :
 Problem definition and stastical analysis.
 The choice between comparative and non comparative scales.
 Number of categories.
 Balanced versus unbalanced scale, and
 Forced versus non forced categories.
CONCLUSION:
There are four levels of measurements : nominal, ordinal, interval ,and ratio
,.
The measurement scales ,can be divided into two types. Comparative and non
comparative scales. A number of scaling techniques are available for
measurement of attributes.
REFERENCES:
1.NAVDEEP AND GUPTA :A STASTICAL TECHNIQUES AND RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY; KALYANI PUBLICATIONS.
2.WILLIAM G. ZIKMUND ,ADHKARI : “ BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS” NEW
DELHI 2013.